


take me back to the middle

by mickeysupset



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M, season two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 11:51:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2620715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mickeysupset/pseuds/mickeysupset
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mickey’s blue tank top stays the same, but Ian Gallagher is different. Time for round two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	take me back to the middle

**Author's Note:**

> so this is basically behind the scenes season two, enjoy

Winter changes to summer, but Mickey’s blue tank top stays the same.

(It’s almost like he had known the wear something cool under his sweater when going to torment Kash; it’s almost like had had known something would go wrong and he would not see the light of freedom until the warm summer months.)

Mickey’s blue tank top stays the same, but Ian Gallagher is different.

Time for round two.

Between Mickey getting shot in the thigh and Mickey screaming “fuck you, fuck you, and especially fuck you!” at juvie guards, Ian’s become a completely different person.

Gone is the shaggy haircut and the giant freckle that used to fuck Mickey into the shelves of the Kash and Grab.

The new and improved Ian Gallagher is a few inches taller, lost the mop of red that used to hang in front of his eyes, and has gained about ten pounds of muscle.

Ian smirks as Mickey walks towards the redhead and his sister; he smirks as Mickey pulls Mandy into a hug only to give her a titty twister five seconds later. Ian smirks as Mickey yells at the guards, and he smirks as he puts his arm around Mickey’s shoulder to drag him away.

Ian continues to smirk on the train ride home, in the living room of the Milkovich house, and on their way through the baseball field.

Ian doesn’t truly smile until he and Mickey are alone in the dark, talking about the future and shooting stars.

Mickey smiles too.

* * *

Working at the place he got shot is not ideal, but being able to hang out with Ian Gallagher every day is.

No more having the sneak around the Milkovich home while Mandy is in the other room making pizza bagels. No more having to wait until Kash is gone so they can occupy the freezer.

The store is theirs. All it takes is one look from either of them for the We’ll be right back sign to be flipped and for Mickey to be strutting his way back to the freezer.

Don’t ever say Mickey Milkovich isn’t a hard worker.

* * *

The summer continues and so does whatever the fuck this thing with Ian is.

Mickey spends his days at the store, fucking around with Gallagher and listening to the kid go on and on about West Point, and he spends his nights at the dugouts, doing the exact same thing.

He begins to realize they are beginning to toe some weird line, toe some weird line where labels become involved. (Mickey knows that he is the one that drew this line, but whatever.)

Mickey’s figured Ian jumped over the labels line and straight into relationship territory long ago (probably around the time he was trying to put his hand on a juvie glass window).

_Fiona found a purse with over $500 dollars in cash in it on the L. We are celebrating at Sizzler later. Want to come?_

He glares down at the text message for far too long before typing back a simple _No_.

Mickey’s feet are already flimsily planted on the no side of the relationship line and family dinners are only going to make that harder.

Ian Gallagher brings him leftovers anyway.

* * *

“Hey, I’m going to have to cancel our plans tonight.”

Mickey’s body does something gay when he feels disappointment course through his bones and he scowls. “Why the fuck should I care?”

Ian smiles as if he knows what’s really going on inside Mickey’s head before simply shrugging. “We’re throwing Debbie a party. It’s not even her birthday, but I told Fiona I’d help out.”

“Whatever, man. No sweat off my back.”

Mickey spends the night alone under the L, shooting cardboard cutouts and drinking the beer he’d bought earlier that day.

There are no Gallaghers around to bother him now. No Frank trying to mooch off more bullets, no Ian just standing around being Ian.

Mickey knows he should be relishing in his alone time, but he’s not.

It’s not until Ian bring him some cake at 3 in the morning does he start relishing.

“Think of this as an apology for ditching you today.” Ian says around a mouthful of cake. A small portion of icing gathers at the side of his mouth and Mickey wants to wipe it off or lick it off or kiss it off.

He’s so fucking confused.

He doesn’t let Ian know that though.

“Whatever, man. No sweat off my back.”

* * *

“And then he just hands me the fucking application and tells me to give it to Lip and then…”

It’s been an hour since Ian dragged Mickey away from the Independence Day barbecue and it’s been an hour since Ian started complaining.

He hasn’t stop for one second since.

Mickey lights his cigarette and listens for the fourth time as Ian paces in front of him, ranting about Lip and West Point applications and Karen Jackson.

Eventually, Ian tires and throws himself down on the bench next to Mickey, making a grab for the cigarette.

It’s quiet between them for a few minutes until Ian starts talking again.

“Thanks for putting up with me.” He murmurs quietly. “It’s nice when someone actually listens to me.”

Mickey feels the pit that’s been sitting in his stomach for the last hour triple in size. He knows he should probably scoff and play the whole thing off, but something on Ian’s face stops him.

“Fuck Lip.” Mickey states as he stares out at the baseball field, refusing to look at Ian. “Just keep doing what you’re doing, man. It’ll all work out in the end.”

He turns to face Ian and is almost blinded by the smile on his face.

The pit in Mickey’s stomach disappears completely, but his heart starts to flutter uncontrollably.

* * *

It’s not every day Mickey walks in to the Kash and Grab and there is smashed fruit all over the floor.

There was that one time pasta sauce, chips, his blood and bullets were scattered everywhere but whatever.

Today, there is broken watermelon and an angry Gallagher picking up the pieces.

“What the fuck happened here?”

Ian shoves more watermelon into a trash bag and scowls deeply. “Lip happened.”

Mickey stares at the (hot) angry redhead before him. There is really only one way he can help in this situation.

“Want to fuck some of that anger out in the back room?”

The question ends up getting watermelon thrown at his face but also leads to him getting bent over the crates in the freezer.

Angry Ian Gallagher is an amazing fuck.

* * *

“Would you mind closing the store alone while I skip out a little early?”

Mickey looks up from his magazine. “Why?”

Ian cracks his knuckles and frowns. “Lip and I are going to fight under the L.”

“Oh really?” Mickey asks, eyebrows raised in question.

“Yeah, our grandma said it was the only way we could solve this whole mess, some shit about alpha wolves or whatever.”

Mickey would never say it out loud, but he’s liked it that Ian has been fighting with his brother. The redhead spends more time away from home, more time with him.

More time fucking, more time talking, more time just the two of them.

When Lip is back in the picture, Ian’s best friend is back in the picture.

Mickey had really been starting to like the title of Ian’s best friend.

“You need backup?”

Ian finally laughs. “First of all, that’s not fair and second of all, it’s Lip. I can kick his ass almost as easily as I can kick yours.”

Ian’s got a point but that doesn’t stop Mickey from following the kid to the spot under the L. He watches from behind a concrete pillar as the Gallagher brothers punch, kick, tackle and wrestle each other, only to make up in the end.

Well that was fucking lame.

It’s later than night when Mickey receives a text message.

_We made up, but Lip’s still being an ass. Want to meet at the baseball field?_

Mickey allows himself to grin.

There is room in Ian’s life for more than one best friend.

(and one boyfriend).

* * *

Things get fucked up not long after that.

Fucking face to face (with legs in the air, arms wrapped around each other, faces pressed close together) leads to them being caught.

Which leads to them fighting, which leads to stupid comments being made, which to Mickey trying to kill Frank Gallagher, which leads to Mickey punching a cop in the face, which leads him right back to juvie.

There are no visits this time, no goofy smiles, no hands on the glass.

Mickey tells himself it’s better this way.

(It’s not.)

* * *

Once again winter changes to summer, but this time Mickey’s tank top is different.

He went in wearing blue and walks out wearing white. He went in angry and comes out with “good behavior.”

Mickey’s tank top is different and so is Ian Gallagher.

Time for round three.

**Author's Note:**

> mickeysupset.tumblr.com


End file.
